


When Poison Rains From The Sky (Awi-Jna Haleb)

by maaldas



Category: Supernatural, Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M, Post-Apocalypse, RPF AU, Wingfic, winged Jensen Ackles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-07 20:32:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12848949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maaldas/pseuds/maaldas
Summary: Jensen’s life was turned upside down when his father was murdered and he was exiled. Facing a painful death in a dangerous and unforgiving land, he was saved by a boy named Jared who claimed to be a member of a certain tribe. From this boy, Jensen learned to free his wings.





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> Submission for spnreverse_bang 2017 on LJ

 

 

The world was divided into two territories, The Ardsikhri and The Sama’ard. The Sama’ard consisted of floating formation of lands high up above that circled around the Ardsikhri, which was the core planet, like a ring. The Sama’ard rotating around The Ardsikhri in a continuous loop and was the dwelling of a creature called the Sama, the winged creature. They were creature of magic that drew their sustenance from the Sun and the Hruh, a certain minerals that could only be found in Sama’ard.

The Ardsihkri, smaller and denser, was home of the Sikhri, creature of no magic but smart and resourceful. They managed to cultivate the resource from around their planet to build things. Machines and weapons to compete with the Sama’s magic.

What happened next was obvious. War broke between these two creatures and enough to say that the Sikh was the one who suffered the worst.


	2. Chapter 1

 

 

**Sama’ard or ‘Sky Dwelling’**

The Great Hall of Prophecy was in uproar. Each Head of Noble Houses was engaged in a heated argument with one another. Samantha Ferris of the Noble House of Ferris, was leading the evening meeting and shouting for order to calm them down but to no avail. She finally directed her right hand towards the ceiling and sent a bolt of energy towards a big, round, metal plate embedded there. The metal absorbed her energy and emanated a long loud ringing sound that filled the whole room. All the members quickly closed their ears. The argument stopped, at least until the ringing diminished.

“Are we settled?” Chairman Ferris asked the assembled members who were still reeling from the alarm signal. “Good.”

“Wish the great-great-grandfather hadn’t invented such an atrocity,” grumbled a woman in her fifties who was massaging her forehead.

“Ah, Lady Carlson, but your great-great-grandfather was a genius. The alarm has served us well during war years,” said Chairman Ferris.

“Still, I’ll have less headache without it.”

“Shall we continue?” said the Chairman with a smile. “Now, Lord Ackles, whenever you’re ready, please.”

A man in his late forties who’d been gathering his strewn pipyrs on the floor, looked up. “Oh, yes, Chairman Ferris, Just a moment.” He arranged the leaves into a binding. “Right, so, as I said before, I came here to present my findings about the nature of the Ardsikhri land. There are signs of development there. Greenery, lush forest, blooming flowers…”

“We’re not interested in blooming flowers, Lord Ackles. There are plenty here.” A stout man, sitting behind Lord Ackles said rather snidely.

“Yes, I know, Lord Collins. But the point is the Sikh are somehow able to turn their wasted land into a habitable land. That means the lethal quality of the Marat that is poisonous to us is …” Lord Ackles lifted his hands.

“Are you trying to say that the Ardsikhri people are able to overcome the poisonous effect of the Marat?” asked Chairman Ferris.

Jonathan Ackles nodded. “I think so, my lady.”

“Hmmm, just how much development are we talking about here?” asked the Chairman.

“Well, I admit, it’s a few, let me see...” after consulting his pipyrs he continued, “Several acres on the north hemisphere. We don’t have the exact number, yet but I believe it’s no more than a hundred.”

“A hundred acres, that’s what? Less than one percent of the planet’s surface? That’s not much, Lord Ackles. I’m hoping you didn’t call for this meeting for something so trivial,” said a mid-fifty lady with grey hair who sat calmly in the second row with head held high, sending cold gazes to the whole room.

“I know, Lady Cohen, but you have to remember that seventy percent of the planet’s surface was permanently inhabitable already, even before war. So, a hundred acres are huge for the remaining thirty percent of it. Because of our poisoned Hruh, a substance that we call marat has been leaking down for decades and decimated all of living being on the surface. But, now, there’s proof that plant grows down there!” said Lord Ackles enthusiastically.

“I am not sure I understand what you mean by proof. Are you even sure that it is plant down there and not any other thing? Like the last report that you gave us?” Lady Cohen didn’t give Lord Ackles a chance to answer as she immediately addressed the court. “We all know that Lord Ackles is the head of Research Division and his obsession with the _Sikhri_ is famous throughout _Sama’ard_. As such, I belief many of us here agree with me that this report is a waste of time. I strongly suggest you turn your focus on the recent problem. Our Hruh is dwindling very quickly due to the recent mutation from poisonous Marat. Children are getting sick when they absorb the Hruh from their everyday diet.”

“We should remove him from the current position and appoint someone more capable,” said a stout man with squinting eyes who sat next to Lady Cohen. “I’ll say we hit the Sikhri with the Maratruh that I perfected and quence them before they grow bigger and become a threat to us.”

“Not this again, Lord Collins, you know it’s too dangerous! Maratruh is a failed experiment and you know that, too! End of discussion!” Chairman Ferris interjected amid murmurs from the other board members. The Maratruh experiment was a massive failure from the long and dark years of the war; many spears died because of it.

But Lord Collins didn’t give up. “Look, we already have the latest report of the spy spears that the Ardsikhri people are gearing up. They are cultivating new weapons. We know they are planning a massive attack on us, _right now!_ I’m telling you, people of Sama’ard, _the war is upon us! Again!”_

“No spears could touch the ground of Ardsikhri without a proper suit and the using of Hruh to make such a protection suit is forbidden since fifty years ago due to the receding quantity of it. So, my question is, how did your spears get that knowledge, Lord Collins?” asked a dark-haired man wearing silk blue suit who sat in the third row of the circular bench seat near the entrance door. His slouch showed that he’d preferred to be somewhere else but his eyes were gleaming with anticipation.

“Mr. Speight, if you don’t have anything to add to this meeting please stop making allusions to something that we don’t have proof of yet. Accusing a member of this court is a great offense,” Chairman Ferris sternly said. “And, Lord Collins, please. I’m aware of that report, but it is an outdated report and since then there was no activity from the ground. We’re not facing a war,” she continued, addressing the court.

“Chairman Ferris, if I may?” Lord Ackles interjected as the other court members discussed the issue of war. After the chairman gave him permission to present his report he continued, “As we know, Marat minerals, the poisonous mutation of the Hruh, has been leaking from our dwelling for decades and yet, somehow their planet survives. We’ve seen the destruction of Marat throughout Ardsikhri’s surface that forced the Sikhri people that survived to go underground. The latest report from our spears fifty years ago stated that the destruction goes well below the surface. I don’t know how deep the Sikhri must dig into the ground to find solace from it. It should be impossible. Marat killed everything on that planet and after years of exposures there shouldn’t be anything left above ground besides empty, infertile land. Yet, I see evidence of greens; plants that grow in the past few years. I’m believe that the key to cure our Hruh is down there.”

The court erupted. Many demanded further explanation from the Head of Research Division. Some even suspected that the planet’s damage was a ruse, that the Sikhri was meant to poison their Hruh to kill them. A suspicion that apparently stemmed from decades of discord between the two worlds and two of the three remaining founder families of Sama’ard, the Collins and the Cohen,had a very strong opinion of it.

 

**Ardsikhri or ‘ground bellow’**

Jared’s life was simple. Every morning when it wasn’t raining, he’d go outside his cave to gather some greens and fruits for breakfast. He would plant his greens inside his cave but the plants needed sunlight. He built a roof over his meagre garden, akin to a green house that his aunt Alaina had shown him years ago in an old leather bound book. The rooftop was made of branches and thick leaves that he piled one over the other. The big trees seemed to be immune to the acidic substance of the rain. They were inedible and poisonous to Jared’s people but using them as a shield for his greens seemed to be working. Maybe their poisonous natures contradicted each other. Jared didn’t know and Mr.Beaver didn’t teach him that far.

The rain didn’t fall as often as several years ago. Only two or three times every two weeks, so Jared was able to manage his garden with some difficulty. When the sun shone, he opened the roof a bit to let sunlight in and when it was raining he shut the rooftop so that the plants didn’t die. Sometimes he stayed inside the greenhouse even when it was raining. Just to make sure that his greens were okay.

The Ardsikhri people preferred to live underground and inside caves due to the acidic rain that had killed the land. Jared didn’t know for sure why it happened in the first place. Master Beaver, Jared’s school teacher, would know but he never told his students anything about the Old Times. Said it was a time better left forgotten, whatever that meant.

The underground provided shelter and sustenance for the people. There were edible mushrooms and plants that grew underground and inside the cave, too. There were also underground wells that provided fresh water for them. It was enough for them.

It was also obvious that Jared’s love of the outside world wasn’t much appreciated by the other cave dwelling people and they tended to express their displeasure by harassing him whenever they felt like it. It made Jared spend more and more time outside just to avoid them.

Thunder rolled up ahead and rain started to drop on the ground. Jared dragged a heavy tree branch behind him as the rain fell more heavily, drenching his clothes. It was another thing that he kept secret from his people. He was immune to the rain’s effect.

When he reached his meager garden, he lifted the branch to cover part of the roof that was leaking, but apparently he was too late. The plants under the leaky part were already dead. They laid helplessly on the ground, the leaves and stems turning black.

“Oh, man, I’m so sorry,” Jared mumbled to himself, looking up and sighing despondently. He quickly gathered the dead plants to prepare the ground for new seeds.

He got his seeds from his aunt Alaina. While Alaina herself wasn’t a botanist, her family, including Jared’s parents, had been. Since the seeds wouldn’t do well underground, she let Jared do anything with them he wanted.

“Well, my greens, looks like it’s just you and me now,” said Jared, half joking, but his smile dimmed as he looked around his small garden, “like always.”

///

 

Jared was woken up from his slumber in the green house by a loud booming noise followed by the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground. He looked around his garden and found nothing had broken. His roof was intact and apparently the rain had stopped while he was sleeping. Curious by nature, Jared ventured out.

There was strange yellow fog filling the air that made his skin itch and his lungs burn. He looked up at the trees to see if one of them might be responsible for this fog but nothing seemed out of place. He walked further away from his garden; intent on discovering what had caused that booming noise and found the answer in the form of a fallen tree.

The big log was covered by gleaming yellowish powder and there was a strange creature sprawled next to it. From a closer look, the creature looked like him. It had two legs and arms and a build similar to him, but there were two large, white contraptions with black spots on its back. Something tugged at his memory. He’d seen this kind of creature in one of his aunt’s book collection, this was a Sama!

Jared gasped in fear. “Oh, no... this is dangerous,” No Sama ever touched the ground of Ardsikhri since the rain fell many years ago. Jared was aware of the history of his people with the people of Sama’ard; of the long years of war and destruction both of the people had caused the other. The mere fact that a Sama was on Ardsikhri ground, probably dead, was frightening. Did they come to start another war? Jared wanted to run back to the cave and report it to the Elders, but a sudden movement from the other creature caught his attention.

The creature groaned, apparently not quite dead yet. It let out a mewling sound that made Jared feel sorry for it. If it fell from his dwelling above, then it must be in a terrible pain. The creature tried to lift its blackish-white _things_ , but they seemed to be deteriorating and falling apart the more it moved them which, of course, caused the creature to moan in pain.

His aunt Alaina always said that he had a too big heart for his skinny frame. Seeing the poor creature in so much pain made him felt sorry for it. Yes, they were at war for a certain period of time in the past but that was in the past right? The world was different now. Certainly there was nothing in Ardsikhri that they could want now. Steeling his nerves, Jared stepped closer, quietly, prepared to run back to the cave if the creature suddenly attacked.

The Sama’s complexion was pale and its clothes were torn apart and its body was covered in wounds and bruises, blood was everywhere. The strange things on its back, that Jared suddenly remembered were called wings, seemed to be unsalvageable. Making a decision, Jared heaved the creature onto his shoulders, deciding to think about the repercussions later, and carried it to his garden.

///

 

“Jared? Where are you going with that?” Jared’s aunt, Alaina, asked, eyeing the bundle in Jared’s hand with suspicion.

Jared had been sneaking medicine and tools from his aunt’s storage to take care of the Sama. The creature was very sick, its breath wheezing and his wings had fallen off his back two days after Jared found it.  

“To the garden. I told you last week that I’ve started a new garden next to the existing one. I still need to build a new shade, though, for when it rains. I want to start planting next week,” Jared rambled.

“You’ve been acting weird lately. Do those boys still bother you? I can tell Jim. He’d have a talk with them.”

“No, no, no, aunt Alaina please don’t say anything to Mr. Beaver. No one bothers me anymore, really. If you tell him, that’ll make them hate me even more,” Jared pleaded, making sad faces that would surely melt his aunt’s heart.

Alaina smiled. “Alright, I won’t tell him anything, but be careful out there, okay? Don’t go outside in rain! I know that you ...,” aunt Alaina made a weird hand gesture before continuing, “just stay inside when it’s raining, okay? And don’t forget to eat! You’re too thin.”

“Don’t worry, aunt Al, I’ll be alright!,” shouted Jared who was already running out of the compound he shared with his aunt.

The Ardsikhri generally lived together underground compounds as a big family unit. A head of family usually had twenty to twenty five people in his compound, while small families lived together in one compound. Building underground dwellings was difficult even with their machines so the Elders decided this way was best. It was easier to manage several big compounds than many small ones. Moreover, big families had a better support system. When someone was ill or needed help, there were many people in the compound who could help them.

The only exception was the compounds for Elders, like the one Jared had, which were much smaller and consisted of two or three people. Alaina was the only daughter of the late Elder Huffman and Jared’s mother was her third cousin who lived in a joint compound with six other small families. She took care of Jared when Jared’s parents died of a sickness eleven years ago, saying that it was better for him to stay with his closest family. But Jared thought she just needed the company.

“Hey, I’m back,” Jared greeted his guest. Well, he could consider the Sama, whose name it turned out, was Jensen, as his guest, “I brought more medicine. How long have you been awake?”

///

Jensen turned his head towards the kid who was approaching him with a smile on his face and a bundle in his hand. He awoke the day when his wings broke off of his back. The process was excruciating, but couldn’t be compared with the feeling of utter sadness, loss and longing that he was feeling ever since. He knew that his wings were deteriorating. The black spots that were burning his wings would soon have eaten his skin if the wings hadn’t dropped off, but then who was he without his wings? How would he flew home?

The kid, Jared, had been taking care of him. He was a nice kid for a Sikh, so he guessed his father was right after all; not all the Sikh are bad. The day of his father’s incarceration was the day of his banishment. No one would’ve thought that Rob Collins would take such drastic measures to secure his position in the Court in order to launch his political agenda. He’d always been bloodthirsty, his father said, and blamed every bad thing that happened on Sama’ard on the Ardsikhri. At this point, no one remembered the reason why Sama’ard and Ardsikhri was at war, but everyone remembered the casualties, the damage and the pain of the war. When their Hruh minerals were poisoned and leaked down below, the Court called the war off, thinking that the price wasn’t worth it anymore.

Both worlds suffered greatly.

“Your medicine won’t work,” Jensen said. He had to tell the kid that his effort might be fruitless.

Jared frowned before coming closer to inspect Jensen’s wounds. ”Your wounds are closing already,” Jared said after inspecting Jensen’s wound. “So, I guess it does work,” he replied raising his eyebrows at Jensen as if to challenge him. Jensen just sighed. It was sapping his energy, talking.

“We’ll keep the roof off from now on because you live on sunlight, right? Unless, of course, it’s raining,” Jared shrugged. “Got to keep the greens alive.”

“The rain poisons me, too,” whispered Jensen, before coughing heavily. The effect of Marat on his lungs was bad. He was worried if he would soon lose his voice as well. That would be terrible.

“What? Really? I thought it came from your world?”

“No, your weapons poisoned our mineral, a very important mineral and turned it into a poisonous substance, even for us. Those are the ones that have been leaking down for years, and now we’re dying,” explained Jensen. Jared looked shocked by the news, as if he’d never heard of that before. Jensen didn’t know why Jared wasn’t aware of their war history. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”

Jared shook his head and frowned. “Mr. Beaver, my teacher, never told us about the Old Times. Said it was dark times and we have better life now, but my aunt said that our people used to live above ground, hundreds of years ago. That was before the Sama came down. My aunt said your people wanted to bargain, but ended up tricking us to gain our resource.”

“What resource?”

“I don’t know, she didn’t say and I’m not allowed into the secret library.”

“Huh, I don’t think we needed anything from your world. Any resource that we need came from the Sun and the mineral in our land called ‘Hruh’. Now that I’m stranded here with no means to return, I’m pretty much dying.”

“But you’re better!” Jared said, lifting Jensen’s arm where the wounds were already closing. “Look, you’re wounds are healing.”

“It’s just my body’s automatic reaction to heal itself, but without Hruh my energy will run out.”

“I know a place where the sunlight isn’t hindered by the leaves. It’s not far from here, I’ll get you there when it’s not raining....”

“No, no...”

“You said you live on sunlight. The sun will heal you, right?”

“No, that’s not how it works, Jared.”

“Why not? Even without the mineral you can still live, right?”

“No one in my world would even try to live with only one resource. The sun helps us process our Hruh into energy. Without the mineral, there’s nothing to process. I don’t know why you saved me, Jared. I thank you for that, but I’m going to end up dead anyway.”

“No, please, you can’t give up. I...” Jared stopped, looking down on his lap before speaking in a small voice, “I don’t have many friends.” He snorted condescendingly before repeating more clearly, “I don’t have friends, period. I only have my aunt and she’s always busy with Elder meetings. Everything I know I learned from Mr. Beaver, a library keeper and teacher. When I was little he let me stay in the main library and told me stories until my aunt came to pick me up. The other kids love to bully me because I’d rather read than play. You’re the only friend I have. So, please don’t die,” Jared begged.

It was so easy to give in to this kid’s pleading but Jensen had nothing to offer him, not even a false hope, he was gonna die. “Kid, I’m not your friend. You barely know me. As far as your people are concerned, I’m the enemy.”

“You haven’t hurt me and I don’t think you were born the day our people waged war on each other. From what I see, you need help and I’m the only one who can help you,” Jared said stubbornly.

“I’m dying.”

“I’m not giving up! And who’re you calling kid? I’m seventeen and considered adult here. You’re just a wounded guy, you have no choice but to do as I say. So, I say I’m saving your life!”

Jensen was surprised by the vehemence coming from Jared. It was disconcerting to see a person other than his family and friends so determined to help him. Not to mention that this person belonged to the people that fought his people during the war age.

 

///

 

The next few weeks, true to his words, Jared built Jensen a wooden stretcher and dragged him out to the woods to allow him full exposure to the sunlight. He stayed with him all of that time, spending his time collecting twigs and branches for his garden shed, talking to him constantly, telling stories, self-depreciating jokes. One thing about Jared that Jensen understood was the kid didn’t think too much of himself.

“So, what were you doing before?” Jared asked from atop a big tree behind Jensen’s head.

Jensen who already had trouble staying awake when he was under the sun, had to concentrate to hear Jared’s voice. Despite of the large quantity of sunlight he received, he still felt weaker every day, yet Jared insisted that he was getting better, that most of his wounds were healed, but he knew he wasn’t getting better. Instead, his eyesight was getting blurry and sometimes he could hear Jared’s voice but couldn’t understand the words. One day, he even slept though the dragging around Jared did. He knew it was the sign of his body being deprived of the Hruh mineral and was dreading the day when his body gave up altogether. He wanted to quench Jared’s optimism, but kinda liked his company. It sucked to die alone.

When Jensen took too long to answer, Jared jumped down from the tree and tapped his shoulder. “Jensen?”

Jensen forced his eyes open and immediately winced.

“Oh, sorry, sorry ... here,” Jared blocked the sunlight with his back, worry etched on his face. So, Jensen tried to smile but it was too weak if Jared’s frown was any indication it probably looked more like a grimace.

“Wha...,” Jensen asked Jared.

“What did you do? You know, before... up there,” Jared repeated his question, gesturing up with his head.

“Oh, ... was a spear,” whispered Jensen. All he wanted was to sleep. Getting only one source of sustenance made him so tired.

“Spear? What’s that?”

“Soldier.... warrior.”

“Oh, wow... that’s awesome!” Jared grinned, genuine awe on his face. “You know, I told you a lot about my life-”

“You talked a lot,” Jensen interjected, but Jared just went on, ignoring it.

“-but I don’t know anything about you. You said your dad’s a researcher, like my parents. Well, my parents usually worked with medicine, that’s what aunt Alaina told me. So, how did you end up here?”

Jensen sighed. He probably shouldn’t talk considering how badly his throat had been abused by the Marat, but he’d probably lose his voice first before he lost his life, and he was going to die anyway, so...

“I was securing the perimeter on the north hemisphere when I was called back to headquarters. Found out that my father was sent to prison and I was to follow, but the family on my mother’s side, the Carens, made a pleading to the court to let me go. Since, I was descendant of the Carens from my mother, they banished me instead. Strapped into the protection suit courtesy of the Collins of course,” Jensen sneered. He still remembered the smirk on Rob Collins’ face when they strapped the suit on him. He was sure that the man had rigged the suit to explode before he reached the ground.

“The Collins, are they bad?” asked Jared.

“You need to study the history more, kid. Ask your aunt! I think it’s going to rain soon.” Jensen said when he saw black clouds forming on the sky right above them. Jared looked up and promptly swore, which made Jensen smile because it was the first time he heard the kid swear. He was such a bad influence.

Jared quickly slung the stretcher’s rope around his body and pulled Jensen towards his garden. They hadn’t anticipated the rain to fall until later at night, but it seemed the weather changed. Soon, yellow acidic drops of rain started to fall but they were still a few paces away from the protection of the garden shade.

“ _Shit!_ We’re not gonna make it!” Jared swore again before putting the stretcher down and lifted Jensen up. He tucked Jensen closely to his chest, protecting him from the rain with his body while he ran the rest of the way and not stopping until they reached the garden shade.

“Jared, you idiot! The rain’ll kill you!” Jensen was outraged. How dare Jared risked his life for him, a dying man with no hope of surviving, but the kid just smiled as he put Jensen down carefully on his makeshift bed under the garden’s canopy.

“Don’t worry, I’m okay. The rain doesn’t hurt me.”

That confession smacked Jensen in the face. He gapped at the kid in disbelief. Jared’s hair was drenched by rain; yellow rivulets ran harmlessly down his back. There was a whisper at the back of his mind that maybe the rain wasn’t acidic anymore, maybe the Marat had stopped leaking but the burning pain on his leg reminded him that it wasn’t true.

“Oh, Jensen, I’m sorry,” exclaimed Jared when he saw the black splotches on his left shin, courtesy of the-still-acidic-rain, thank you very much. He quickly grabbed a bunch of leaves from his plants and rubbed them on Jensen’s leg. The leaves absorbed the acid liquids, turning them black and protecting Jensen’s leg from further damage. “It wasn’t too bad, just mild burning. Few hours under the sun, it’ll heal. I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough. I’ve been counting the days until the next rainfall but-,”

“Stop!” Jensen snapped. “Just stop, Jared.” He grabbed Jared’s wrist. “Tell me how the rain doesn’t hurt you?!”

Jared seemed to shrink into himself as if he was embarrassed; his eyes downcast and face forlorn. He tried to pull his hand back but Jensen refused to let go. He needed to get to the bottom of this.

“Jared, please,” Jensen whispered.

“I-I’m a freak,” Jared admitted.

“Why? Why do you say that you’re a freak?”

“It’s never hurt me. The first time it happened I was sneaking outside. My aunt told me not to go outside because it was raining. I thought she was lying to me about what would happen, but when I told her I went out and it didn’t hurt me, she panicked. She forbade me to tell anyone that the rain didn’t hurt me. I love it because no one will bother me here and I was considered a freak anyway. The other kids, they got suspicious, but won’t dare coming out of the underground compound by themselves.”

Now, Jensen understood. Jared lived alone with his aunt and had no friends, only bullies. No wonder he was so adamant that Jensen was his friend. Jensen, who was an enemy and would probably die soon.

“You’re lonely because you’re different.”

Jared nodded his head, eyes averted. Jensen felt a sudden strong need to protect Jared and wished he had a long life ahead of him to do it. Jared, who had helped him, nurtured him, dragged him around the forest to get sunlight, protected him from rain and wanted to be his friend.

“As long as I live, which won’t be for very long, I’ll be your friend,” Jensen said.

Jared slowly looked up at him, a happy smile blooming on his face, making Jensen’s heart ache.

“You’ll live, Jensen. I’ll make sure you get lots and lots of sunlight. You said you never seen anyone of your kind live with only one source of sustenance. Well, now you have to,” Jared stated.

Jensen had to laugh at that. It was so easy to give in to Jared’s insistence, like everything was possible when Jared believed it.

 

///


	3. Chapter 2

 

Jared had been spending his underground time in the main library. His aunt had her own library at home but most of them pertained to her work and the Huffman family history. However, what Jared needed was more information on the war between the Sama’ard and the Ardsikhri and that information was kept in the secluded section of the library; the place where Jared had been begging Mr. Beaver for permission to enter for the past hour.

“I don’t know where this fascination about the war came from that you suddenly want to know about it. You already know the gist of it. They came to trade, they cheated and war ensued, end of story,” Mr. Beaver grumbled, clearly annoyed that Jared had disturbed his evening reading.

“But it’s not that simple. You know that!” Jared challenged. Mr. Beaver just raised his eyebrows at him before standing up, carrying the book he’d been reading to return it to the nearest shelf with Jared trailing behind. Jared decided to throw out the bait. “I wanna know about the Collins.”

Mr. Beaver stopped with the book halfway back on its designated shelf. Jared waited a few heartbeats, believing he’d stepped over a line somehow. “Where did you hear that name?” Mr. Beaver asked, pushing his book back onto the shelf and turning around to peer closely at Jared.

Jared tried to act casual. “Just heard about it from my aunt.”

“Yeah, and she told you about that, huh?” Mr. Beaver said, seeing through Jared’s lie. “You must’ve sneaked around during one of her meetings.”

“I haven’t done that since I was eight, Mr. Beaver, please. I learned my lesson the last time.”

At that, the old librarian laughed. “Yeah, good old Rufus Turner gave you the spanking of your life.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” grumbled Jared, upset that Mr. Beaver had brought up that embarrassing incident. “I’ll let you tease me till I’m shriveled and old as long as you let me read from the secluded section.”

“Ya really wanna know, dontcha?” Mr. Beaver sighed. “Alright, come along, I’ll supervise.”

“Really?! Oh, thank you, thank you, Mr. Beaver.” Jared was so happy that he hugged the old man.

“Alright, knock it off ya octopus.”

“What’s an octopus?”

Mr. Beaver snorted, You don’t wanna know kid,” before leading him towards the secluded section. “So, here’s the deal. I let you read this book, but you’re not allowed to take it home. You can only read it here and with me present.”

“Sure, deal!” Jared quickly agreed.

“And you asked about the Collins. They’re one of the prominent families of the Sama people. There are four prominent family; the Carens, the Carlson, the Cohen and the Collins. Meredith Collins was a general during war time. You’ll find that she’s mentioned a lot in the history book.”

///

 

When Jared returned outside to visit his plant and Jensen, the sun was shining brightly, and Jared was in a good mood. He was eager to tell Jensen about the things that he’d read in the books. There was lots of information in them but also lots of unanswered questions and Jared hated not knowing things. So, he intended to ask Jensen about it. The Sama seemed to know a lot about the history of war.

“I’m back! Miss me?” Jared greeted happily. He put the water pail down at the edge of the garden before watering the plants, one by one, using his hands. He’d planted new seeds yesterday at the edge of the garden. While other plants in his garden only needed sunlight to live, he learned from his parents’ note that this particular plant needed water as well as sunlight to live.

There were plants and mushroom that only needed water and didn’t need any sunlight. Those kinds of plants were the ones that were farmed underground. His aunt said that during the beginning of their underground establishment, many scientist and botanist including his great-great-grandparents had worked hard manipulating the plants’ genetic so that they can be planted underground with little to no sunlight exposure. Some plants mutated successfully but others became poisonous or dead. Jared’s parents kept the original un-mutated plants’ seeds hoping that one day, when the rain stopped becoming acidic, they could plant them outside and rebuild their old world.

“Hey, Jensen, guess what?” Jared shouted at Jensen who was sleeping at the other end of the garden near a big tree that Jared used to support his garden shed’s lean-to. “I got permission to read the books from the secluded section. There are lots of things I learn there, you wouldn’t believe what I’ve found. Turned out there was a Sama that was banished before you. It was a very long time ago, maybe even before the war. Mr. Beaver said it was an old story that he believed to be a mere fairy tale because of lack of supporting data. There was no record about this Sama’s life here on Ardsikhri but then again, I haven’t read all the books. Too bad I’m not allowed to bring the books here to clarify them with you, but I tried to remember all of the important information.”

Jared paused to take a breath, “So, what d’you think, Jensen? Have you ever heard about this? Surely there were records from your world about this person, right? Because you do know a lot more about history.”

When Jensen failed to reply, Jared frowned. “Jensen? Have you heard what I said?” He stood up and walked towards the back of the garden, where he put Jensen’s makeshift bed, abandoning his pail of water. “Jensen? Are you still sleeping?”

Jared knelt down next to Jensen who looked like he was sleeping soundly and shook the Sama’s arm only to find it very cold and devoid of life signs. In fact, Jensen’s whole body was cold to the touch and he wasn’t responding to any of Jared’s prodding. Jared was scared.

“No,.... no, Jensen.... You’re getting better. I know you are! You’re wounds are all healed and you were fine yesterday.” Tears were running down Jared’s cheeks. “You’ve promised to be my friend. Please, Jensen don’t die.... please....”

He looked around the ground where the yellow splotches were visible due to the overnight rain. “Last night was raining,” Jared gasped as if realizing something. “You must be cold, yes? I’m so stupid! You live on sunlight. I have to get you sunlight.” Then he quickly lifted Jensen’s body and put him on the stretcher next to the bed before hurriedly dragging it out of the shed, trampling some plants in the process.

“Don’t worry, Jensen, you’ll be okay. You’ll be okay,” Jared kept saying over and over as he dragged Jensen back to the spot where he could get the most exposure to sunlight. Jared waited next to Jensen’s body, praying, pleading, begging the Sama to open his eyes. He kept touching Jensen’s skin, wishing it to get warm but even after the sun almost set, Jensen’s skin was still cold.

“It can’t be. You can’t be dead. The other Sama, he or she must’ve found a way to live down here. There must be something written about the Sama’s life here. I have to read all the books!”

The sun was already set and Jared dragged the stretcher through the woods in darkness. He didn’t stop at the garden. Instead, he went through the cave opening with Jensen’s body in tow.

It was not easy to bring a body down the many flight of stairs from the outer gate inside the cave into the outer round hall. Jared had ditched the stretcher outside the outer gate before painstakingly lifting Jensen’s body onto his back. He had to stop several times on the stairs to take a breath before hauling Jensen’s deadweight body further down.

There used to be guards inside the gate and in the round hall right after the stairs but after all the years of living underground fearing the acidic rain outside, the people didn’t bother to try to go out anymore. So, the guards just left their post one by one, mingling and living with the people in the compounds. Some of the Elders still went outside from time to time to check on the terrain but these past years, his aunt said, it had become a rare endeavor. The recent Elders Pellegrino and Sheppard had deemed it a useless effort and that the people of Ardsikhri had a better chance of living underground. They were a thriving community, happy and content where they were.

In the beginning, there were five Elders that the people of Ardsikhri had trusted to lead their new life underground; five people that they’ve appointed from the five tribes that made the Ardsikhri. The next generation would then elect a new Elder whenever the older ones passed away. Sometimes the next of kin or family of the late Elder was appointed like in the case of Elder Huffman who had passed away in the same year as Jared’s parents. The Ardsikhri people then elected his daughter, Alaina Huffman as Elder due to her knowledge in medicine and leadership. After years and years of helping each other and living together in the compounds for years, the five tribes of Ardsikhri had blended into one community. They didn’t feel the need to appoint five representatives anymore. Soon, five Elders became four and four became three.

After what felt like years, Jared finally able to carry Jensen’s body inside the compounds. People were used to him carrying things back and forth such as tools, seeds and water. He hoped no one batted an eye seeing him carrying Jensen’s body on his back. He needed to get to the library ASAP.

“Hey, freak! what d’you got there?”

Damn! Here comes the bully. Jared was grateful that he hadn’t met any one of them these past few weeks but turned out that day was not his lucky day.

“Hey, Russ,” Jared mumbled. He kept his head down and walked faster. The adults never bothered him, thinking that he was just the weird nephew of Elder Huffman but the kids were another story. They took pleasure in picking on him every chance they got and Russel was the worst of them.

“Slow down, will ya! What’s that on your back?” Russel jogged behind him before tripping Jared’s leg and making him loose his balance and dropping Jensen on the ground. “Ew! Who’s that? Is he dead?”

“He’s my friend,” Jared said as he checked Jensen’s body and hauling it again on his back. “He’s sick. You better get away or you’ll get infected.”

Russel gasped, eyes wide. Jared had to bite his cheek to smoother his laugh. He loved seeing the fear in the other boy’s eyes.

“You, ... you can’t bring the infected here. He has to be quarantined!” Russel screamed in panic, attracting the attention of the people around them who were started whispering. “I’ll go get the Elders. You’ll get trouble for this, Jared.”

“Wait, Russ, don’t!” Jared shouted after him, but Russel had already gone. His plan to get Russ off his back had backfired and now people were looking at him in fear. “It’s not true. I lied to him to get him off my back. My friend’s not infected. He was just injured while we’re playing a war game. Please don’t tell the Elders. I’m gonna take him to my aunt to get him checked out.”

“If he’s injured you better hurry, son. I hope you’re telling the truth about the infection because we don’t need an outbreak among us,” said one of the men.

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry. Please excuse me, I need to go now.”

The people quickly dispersed, going about their business and giving Jared ample opportunity to slip away. He went as fast as possible towards the library. Jensen had proven to be immune to the Ardsikhri’s medicine, so the only thing Jared could think of was finding out about the history of the other Sama who’d been cast away before Jensen. He believed Mr. Beaver knew a lot more than he let on. Jared was sure that the old librarian would help him once he saw Jensen.

“Mr. Beaver! Please, help!”

Jared carefully deposited Jensen’s body on the ground of the library’s main round room while shouting for the librarian. “Mr. Beaver!”

“Jared, I swear to everything that’s holy!” came the muffled answer from the inside room. “I was sleeping. Why’re you always disturbing me when...”

Mr. Beaver was rooted to the spot when he walked into the round room and saw Jensen. He turned towards Jared with question on the tip of his tongue, but Jared didn’t give him a chance.

“He’s a Sama and his name is Jensen. He needs help, Mr. Beaver. I need to know what happened to the Sama who was banished here before; the one that I read about in one of the books in the secluded section. That Sama survived, right? I’m sure of it. Why would it be in the book then? I need to know how he or she survived. There must be away because Jensen doesn’t respond to our medicine. He lives on sunlight, but I’ve got him a lot of sun exposure and it doesn’t work. So, I thought maybe If I could read about-”

“Hold on there, boy!” Mr. Beaver snapped, effectively shutting Jared him up. Then, he squinted his eyes at him. “You bring a Sama here? In this compound? In my library? Are you that stupid?!” Mr. Beaver asked, voice rising.

Jared winced. “I don’t know where to go. Jensen’s my friend. He’s the only friend I have. I gotta help him.”

Mr. Beaver sighed. “Is he dead?”

“NO! He can’t be dead! I just left him for a night and he was fine yesterday but...” Jared hesitated, “he’s cold now. I tried getting him under the sunlight all day but he’s still not waking.”

“It’s bad enough that you bring a dead body here, but a Sama?” Mr. Beaver stared at Jared incredulously. “I’m glad that he’s not breathing anymore. Take him back to where you find him, boy, and we’ll forget about this.”

It turned out to be a lot more difficult to convince Mr. Beaver to help him than he’d thought before. Jared took a deep breath. “I’m not gonna do that, Mr. Beaver. If you won’t tell me about the history of the other Sama who was banished down here before, then I’ll read the books myself. With or without your permission,” Jared said as clearly as he could.

“What? Listen kid-”

“I know where you keep your keys. I’ll break into the secluded section if I have to.”

There was a long pause which Mr. Beaver spent staring furiously at Jared as if daring him to do what he said he would do. Yet, Jared didn’t back down. He gritted his teeth and stood his ground. After a while, the bearded man visibly deflated.

“You are incorrigible,” Mr. Beaver sighed as he rubbed his face tiredly. “Look, I don’t know a lot about this other Sama that you talked about. There are no other references about it in the other books. Trust me, kid, I looked,” Mr. Beaver said when Jared opened his mouth to interrupt. “He or she must have been dead soon after they reached this ground.”

“No, no, that’s not true.” Jared shook his head. “There must be something, a – a book or, or a note or-”

“Or a journal.”

Jared swiveled around and saw Elder Pellegrino leaned on the door frame, casually surveying the room. “That the Sama?” the Elder asked, pointing his chin at Jensen’s body and walked closer. “Hmmm... People of Sama’ard. Always a mystery.”

The Elder knelt down next to Jensen and inspected his body. Jared knelt on the other side, somehow feeling the need to protect Jensen. He cursed Russ for reporting him to the Elder. He thought the brat would tell his aunt. He believed he could handle his aunt, but Elder Pellegrino was another story. He didn’t really know Elder Pellegrino as the man usually kept to himself and was not very sociable.

“Ah, there you are!”

Another man entered the room. Jared blanched when he saw Elder Sheppard stood near the entrance of the round room. Things wouldn’t get worse than this, would it? He couldn’t imagine how much trouble he’d be in once this was all over. Not to mention, what would happen to Jensen now? Jared gripped Jensen’s cold arm tightly, preparing to fight anyone who wanted to take Jensen away from him.

“I see that you’ve handled it. I’ll talk to the crowd and smooth things over. People are panicking about the possibility of a pandemic outbreak, courtesy of our young Jared,” said Elder Sheppard with a smirk at Jared.

“Sure, Mark. Thanks!” said Elder Pellegrino.

“Oh, and Jared,” Elder Sheppard called. “Your aunt is on her way and kinda pissed at you. Just a heads up.” With that said, the man sauntered back out, whistling. Jared could only gasp and looked at Mr. Beaver for guidance, but the old man just shrugged his shoulders looking bewildered with the turn of events.

Elder Pellegrino fished his eyeglasses from his pocket and continued checking Jensen over. He peered into Jensen’s eyes, palpated his neck and chest before turning over his body and looked at the twin holes on Jensen’s back that used to house his wings.

“I suggest we dig a hole for him and cover him with dirt,” the Elder said as he put his eyeglasses back into his shirt pocket.

Jared was outraged. “We’re not gonna bury Jensen!”

“Jensen, is he? Well, we can’t leave him here unattended, either.”

“But-”

Elder Pellegrino raised his hand. “Now, before you work yourself up into an unnecessary argument, let me tell you this. Your aunt is on her way and she’ll have my balls if I let you stay here with this Sama for however long it takes for this creature to reboot his system. I don’t wanna fight her, see?” Elder Pellegrino said while making a complicated hand gesture that completely went over Jared’s head. “I like her, alright?” said the Elder exasperated by Jared’s cluelessness.

Mr. Beaver cleared his throat and Elder Pellegrino turned crimson while Jared turned back and forth between the two, feeling completely out of loop. Then, something caught his attention.

“Wait a minute, you said Jensen was rebooting?” A spark of hope bloomed in his chest and he suddenly felt warm.

“Come here, kid.” The Elder beckoned him closer.

Jared hesitated to leave Jensen’s side, but curiosity won out. No longer wary of the unsociable Elder, Jared came closer. The Elder led him to a corner; away from Mr. Beaver’s curious ears as the old librarian pretended to busy himself by rearranging his bookshelf at the other side of the room.

Elder Pellegrino took a deep breath before speaking in a hushed tone. “I have a journal that was passed down from Elder March, who got it from Elder Tome, who got it from Elder Young, who got it from Elder Worthy, who got it from Elder Park, from Elder Elshy, and Elder Kripke. It’s an old journal and I treasure it very much. Out of the goodness of my heart, I will lend it to you,” the Elder said to Jared with a pleased smile.

Jared didn’t really understand but he wouldn’t turn down any book if it was offered to him. “Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it, but I don’t understand.”

“It’s a journal of Awi-Jna Haleb; a Sama who was banished from her home many, many years ago. It’s not her real name. It was a nickname that originated from an old dead language of the north tribe.”

“The beloved,” Jared blurted out; heart beating twice as fast. He knew it! There was hope for Jensen after all. “It means ‘The Beloved’.” He remembered reading about that old language in one of his aunt’s book. The language used to belong to the north tribe before it was gradually lost due to the integrating of the tribes during the early years of their underground life.

“Your aunt taught you well, I see,” Elder Pellegrino said with a pleased smile. “That aunt of yours. She’s something, isn’t she?”

“I guess she is, but I learned it by myself,” Jared said with a shrug.

“Anyway,” the Elder quickly continued, “I’ll let you read the journal and visit the Sama at my place because the journal doesn’t leave my compound, you hear?”

“Wait, you’re going to take Jensen?”

“Of course, kid. Do you think I’ll let it stay here in this library where anyone of the students could stumble on him? Of course, not. So, you’re going to help me haul this creature to my place and tell good things about me to your aunt. Deal?”

“Jared Padalecki!” Alaina’s voice was heard even before she reached the library door.

Jared’s eyes were widened in fear. He looked at the smirking Elder Pellegrino and quickly shook his hand. “Deal!”

The Elder then sauntered over to the door, blocking her entrance. “Shhh... Alaina calm down. Take pity on the boy. He’s just a kid who thinks he’s doing the right thing.”

Alaina frowned at the other Elder as she peered at Jared who was cowering behind the Elder’s back. “But, Jared, explain to me why you brought an infected into the compound!”

“Alaina, you got it all wrong. Jared’s not at fault here. It was Russel who was thinking that he could get Jared in trouble by telling us that Jared brought in an infected.”

“So, Russel was lying? That kid’s gonna be in trouble,” said Jared’s aunt furiously.

“No, no, no... it was just boys being boys, you know? You told me that he’s a bully and always looking for trouble with Jared. Jared just wanted to get him off his back so...”

“So, he lied?” Jared’s aunt whirled around the other Elder to get to Jared. “Jared!” But Elder Pellegrino stopped her again.

“Hey, hey... calm down. Come on, I’ll explain to you outside,” said Elder Pellegrino in a soft tone as he herded Jared’s aunt outside.

Jared was amazed at how Elder Pellegrino expertly calmed his aunt down from her ire. Alaina Huffman was famous for her strong and stubborn personality. No one dared to cross her when she got into one of her bad moods and they had to brave her fury. Yet, Elder Pellegrino, with his bored attitude and unassuming persona had managed to calm her down with only a few sweet words.

“And he asks me to put in a good word for him,” Jared muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. He thought if Elder Pellegrino could sweet talk his aunt all by himself, then why would he need his help? “Elders are weird.”

///

 

Acid rain destroyed everything above ground. It seeped into the soil and killed the plants and animals alike. The first few years was the worst as the rain burned everything it touched. The Ardsikhri’s civilization was turned into husks of charred ruins and the people died of hunger. Until some lucky Sikh who hid in an unused mine tunnel found an underground well filled with fresh water that was safe to drink. The few scientists that were left were very happy about the discovery and decided to investigate it further.

They found out that the soil acted as filters. Three hundred meters underground, the acid was filtered through layers and layers of rocks, sand and clay leaving only fresh water that was collected into an underground river. It was the start of the Ardsikhri’s underground life. The Ardsikhri would be extinct if they weren’t resourceful. They cultivated the river into a generator and water source to support their everyday life. Water and electricity was a privilege, so they learned not to waste it. Something that they should have done before above ground.

“Hey, Jared, come on in!” Elder Pellegrino beckoned him inside, offering him a bowl of glow worm salad. Jared declined. He never liked salad, preferring a deep fried, extra crispy mix of worms and mushroom. His aunt always said that Jared was high maintenance because oil too, like electricity and water, was to be treasured.

The Elder lead Jared into his personal working room, turning off the living room lamp and turning on the library/working room lamp on his way there. There were only three rooms in the Elder’s compound; a main room, a bedroom and a working room which was the biggest.

“I spend almost all of my time here, reading, working, learning the history, contemplating the mystery of life and whatnot. This used to be Elder March’s dwelling and through the previous Elders I mentioned before yesterday, I inherited the knowledge and the history of our people from the first Elders Kripke and Carter,” said Elder Pellegrino sweeping his arms wide around the room full of books as far as Jared’s eyes could see.

Elder Pellegrino’s library was larger than his aunt’s at home; maybe as large as the main library and filled to the brim with books that Jared hadn’t read. His curious mind was salivating over the opportunity to read all of those books. The Elder then pulled a tome from one of the shelves.

“This is it. The journal of Awi-Jna.” Elder Pellegrino presented the tome with a flourish.

Jared’s hands were shaking. His mind went to where Jensen’s body was buried in the Elder’s bedroom. Elder Pellegrino insisted on burying Jensen’s body in his bedroom because it was the least frequented place in his home and didn’t mind that much if it was wrecked. Although, Jared didn’t understand what he meant by that.

The journal was made out of strange looking paper with a distinct smell to it. The papers were light brown in color with a green tint and were velvety soft when Jared touched them.

“They’re called _pipyrs_. It’s a kind of paper made of pipyr leaves that only grow in Sama’ard. This is the only pipyrs bound book left in Ardsikhri,” told the Elder. “There used to be some of those before war. The war destroyed everything,” muttered the Elder.

The journal was written in the old north tribe language with beautiful cursive letters. Jared’s knowledge of the north tribe language was limited. Some of the words in the journal were completely alien to him.

“Can you read it?” asked the Elder.

“I understand some of it but the rest...” Jared shook his head. Another thick leather-bound book appeared in front of him entitled ‘North Tribe Tongue Preserved’. It was a dictionary of the north tribe language. “Thank you, sir!” Jared smiled gratefully at the Elder who then shooed him off.

“Go on, find your own reading nook! Let me work in peace.”

There was one place Jared could think of. “Sir, may I read in your bedroom? ‘Cause Jensen’s there and I wanna make sure-”

“Yeah, yeah, sure... get out of here,” said the Elder distractedly, eyes riveted to another thick book in his hands.

Yesterday, Elder Pellegrino assured him that burying Jensen was the best way to help him. Jared also learnt from him that Sama people disintegrated when they died.

_‘You thinking that they bury their dead like us? No, Jared! We’d have corpses raining down on Ardsikhri eons ago. They live on sunlight, right? So, the sun evaporates them once their life’s gone,’ said the Elder._

So, they took turns digging the ground in the Elder’s bedroom. Well, Jared was the one who mostly did it while Elder Pellegrino just gave him orders. He didn’t mind though, as long as it could help Jensen. The Elder also told him about ground minerals that had different characteristics to Sama’ard minerals, but the importance of the differences was lost on Jared. Only after reading the journal, which took two days and three nights straight of cross-referencing the journal with the dictionary, that Jared understood the significance.

Awi-Jna Haleb or ‘The Beloved’ was the main character told by the writer of the journal. The writer was a man from the north tribe who fell in love with a Sama long before the war. According to the journal, Sama people came down to Ardsikhri several times a year trading knowledge and friendship. Both civilizations learnt about each other’s differences in order to respect the other’s lifestyle. It painted such a beautiful picture in Jared’s mind about the peaceful coexistence of both worlds a long time ago that he couldn’t understand how this peaceful and serene way of life was destroyed by war. The journal didn’t say anything about it because apparently it ended when the writer died.

Jared closed the journal to stare at the mound of soil in the middle of the bedroom where Jensen was buried. The bedroom was just a rectangle barren room with a raised ground at one side where the bedding was laid. Jared didn’t dare sleeping on the Elder’s bed, so he opted to sleep next to Jensen’s mound of soil; if he slept at all. Translating the journal was not that difficult but the way the writer wrote it was confusing. Elder Pellegrino said that the journal was not merely a journal but a work of art. There were many poems in it and the writer loved to use figurative words to describe things. A word that should have meant one thing could mean a lot of different things. Not to mention many things that were mentioned in the journal were things that existed before the war, things that Jared had never seen.

“Jared, I’ve told your aunt that I’m going to need your help rearranging my bookshelves for at least a few more days. So, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want. At least until Alaina gets restless and comes to collect you,” said Elder Pellegrino as he came into his bedroom, bringing Jared a bowl of food.

Jared noticed that the Elder was rarely home during his stay. He often went out either for meetings or some other Elder works but Jared suspected that he just went to see his aunt because when he returned he always had something to say about her.

“She knew about Jensen, right?” asked Jared, receiving the bowl from the Elder’s hand. He realized that it was fried glow worm. Apparently, he was right about him meeting up with his aunt.

The Elder made a face and walked around the mound to sit on his bed. “Yeah, not too happy about it but I told her that everything’s under control.”

Jared sighed, “She’s still mad at me, isn’t she? Because I lied or because I brought in a Sama?”

“She’s just worried, Jared. Have you ever heard about empty nest syndrome?” When Jared shook his head, the Elder continued. “Actually, I’m not an expert at this kind of things but I’ve read that in the old days there used to be something called an empty nest syndrome. It’s basically a feeling of sadness and sorrow experienced by parents when their children leave home after adulthood or marriage. It’s unheard of among our society, I know, because our living arrangement now is much different compared to the old days.”

“But why would she feel like that? I’m just gonna stay here for a few more days until Jensen gets better and it’ll still be a long time until I got married. If I get married at all,” said Jared incredulously.

The Elder just smiled and said, “She has her reason,” before diverting the discussion to the journal in Jared’s hand. “Finished with that?”

“Oh, yeah! It’s...she really loved him, didn’t she?” Jared said referring to the Sama in the journal.

“They loved each other, yes.”

“I mean she’s willing to leave her home to be with him. She even almost died. If the guy did what his family told him to and burned her body on a pyre she would have died. And even then, after she awoke she chose to sever her wings so that she wouldn’t be tempted to return to Sama’ard. That’s...” Jared tried to find the right word to describe the feelings that he got after reading the journal.

“Amazing? Inspiring? Thought provoking?” Elder Pellegrino offered.

“Daunting,” Jared said, instead. “I never knew love can do that.”

“In a world full of hatred and prejudice, one act of good has to be strong enough and big enough to surpass all of the negativity that surrounds it. The world is all about balance, Jared. When you see many bad things there’s gotta be something utterly good that also exists. From what I understand from reading the history of our world, their love had to be extraordinary because the other forces were intimidating.”

Jared felt like there were a lot of things that he didn’t know about his own world. He wondered if the people in his community were aware of these histories or if the knowledge was known only to the Elders.

Jared didn’t realize that he’d said his musing out loud because Elder Pellegrino answered, “The first few generation of our community knew because they experience it themselves or because their parents or grandparents experienced it and taught them those life lessons but the later generation just chose to be oblivious. It’s not their fault, really. We live a good life here, Jared. Compared to what I’ve read in the history books, we live a great life. Everybody really tries to get along and help each other because like it or not we are all in the same boat, so to speak.”

“What’s a boat?” Jared had to ask.

“A vessel that’s used to travel on water. It’s not important,” he quickly added when he saw Jared wanted to ask more about this so-called boat. “What’s important is, despite few mishaps here and there, like the things you have with Russel and his friends, we live in harmony with each other. Something that we didn’t have when we lived above the ground.”

“So, you’ll never want to live outside?”

Elder Pellegrino sighed. “We Elders knew that when the time comes, and the people are ready, we have to leave this place because we’re not meant to live underground. But, now was not the time. Besides, the outside was still dangerous to the rest of us.” Then, he looked into Jared’s eyes. “But if you think you’re ready, I won’t stop you. Your aunt may object but it’s all up to you, Jared. You are the only one who has to make a decision about your own life.”

It was then that Jared felt that the Elder knew about his immunity to the acid rains. If Elder Pellegrino knew, did that mean Elder Sheppard too?

“Eat! Or you’ll get sick and your aunt will have my hide,” said the Elder before leaving the bedroom and Jared to his thoughts.

///

 

The day Jensen awoke was the day Alaina Huffman finally got fed up and picked Jared up from Elder Pellegrino’s compound. Jared had protested on his way back to his own compound but shut his mouth when his aunt told him that she missed him. Alaina didn’t have any family other than Jared and her life as an Elder had forced her to live in the solitude of her compound. Elder Sheppard had his own family; a wife and two daughters and he was a sociable person. The more he thought about it, the more he warmed up to the idea of his aunt marrying Elder Pellegrino. Jared smiled to himself. He never thought that one day he would be the matchmaker for his aunt.

“What are you smiling about?” asked his aunt with a frown.

“Nothing,” Jared grinned. Then, decided to take the plunge. “Do you know that Elder Pellegrino likes you?”

“Mark? Of course, Jared. We’ve worked together for a while now. As Elders we have to be able to cooperate and equate the vision for the good of the community. We wouldn’t be chosen if we can’t work together as a unit.”

Jared rolled his eyes. His aunt was too practical, sometimes. She really needed to learn about romance. Maybe Elder Pellegrino could lend her some of his books on literature. “I know that. What I mean is he really, really likes you. Like _really_ likes you. He’s so into you that he talks about you all the time. I think he loves you, aunt Al.” There he said it, but his aunt just looked at him weirdly.

“You’re weird,” said Alaina shaking her head. “You’ve always been weird but now weirder that usual. What did you learn from Mark, anyway?”

Jared sighed. “Just some literature and a dead language of the north tribe.”

Alaina stopped stirring the pot of soup long enough to look at Jared. “You did? That’s good Jared. Your father was fluent in that language, you know?”

That came as a surprise to Jared because his aunt very rarely talked about his parents. “Really?”

“Yes. His ancestor came from the north tribe. No one in his family was interested in learning the language but he was adamant. He gave you a name in that language.” Alaina poured some of the soup into a big bowl before giving it to Jared.

“Thanks, aunt Al.”

They both sat on their dining table with their dinner just like any other evening but this time, there was a question burning in Jared’s mind.

“What is it? The name he gave me, I mean.”

Alaina took a few moments to answer, while carefully sipping her soup. “I remember when you were born. Your father was so happy he paraded you around his compound and called you Haleb. Haleb Padalecki,” said Alaina with a smile. “I don’t know what it means but he argued with your mother about it. She wanted to name you Jared.”

Jared froze as thoughts ran through his mind. It was just a coincidence, right? The Sama, Awi-Jna married a man from the north tribe and his father’s ancestor also came from the north tribe. Oh no, Jensen! He shuddered thinking about what would have happened to Jensen if he wasn’t there when the Sama hit the ground that day. Suddenly, Elder Pellegrino’s words made sense. This was surreal.

“Elder Huffman! Elder Huffman!”

Alaina frowned at Jared when they heard someone knocking on the front door of their compound. Jared was going to see who it was before his aunt stopped him. “Stay. Eat your soup!” ordered his aunt sternly before leaving the table to go to the front door. Five spoonfuls of soups later, she called him out.

There was a kid on the front door, talking a mile a minute to his aunt. Jared recognized the kid as one of Mr. Beaver’s afternoon students. He quickly called out to Jared once he saw him.

“Jared, Jared, quick! Elder Pellegrino told me to come get you ASAP!” said the kid putting emphasize on the word ASAP, probably feeling very important right now because the Elder had given him a task.

Jared grinned. Elder Pellegrino was often considered aloof and distant. Children were still wary of him and wouldn’t want to be on his bad side. Then, Jared remembered that Jensen was still on the Elder’s compound.

“Come on! Hurry! He’ll be mad at me if you don’t come see him right away.”

“Alright, I’m coming. You can go play now. I’ll tell the Elder you did a god job,” said Jared, already leaving the compound with his aunt close on his tail.

The kid smiled, “Really? Thanks, Jared,” before skipping away happily.

Jared ran all the way to Elder Pellegrino’s compound and burst into his home without knocking. He was sure the Elder wouldn’t mind since he asked for him ASAP, right? The first thing that Jared noticed when he went into the compound was the lights. There were bright lights shining from the direction of the bedroom.

“Stay back!” shouted Elder Pellegrino from where he stood at the bedroom door.

Jared and his aunt crowded behind the Elder’s back, looking into the bedroom. The lights came from the mound of soil where Jensen was buried. They shone through the cracks of the soil and they were so bright, almost blinding. There was also a deafening ringing sound that filled the compound. It was so loud that Jared believed the whole community had heard.

“What’s going on?!” shouted Jared amid the ringing, both hands covering his ears.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect this. My best guess is his body had finished absorbing the ground mineral and the sun energy accumulated in his body was starting to process it,” Elder Pellegrino shouted his reply.

The cracks began to open wider and the lights shone even brighter and hurt Jared’s eyes. Jared felt his aunt tugged at his arm and shouted something at him, but he couldn’t understand what she said until Elder Pellegrino turned around, pushing him and his aunt back into the living room.

 _“Get down!”_ the Elder shouted.

Elder Pellegrino tugged Jared’s and Alaina’s wrists, forcing them to go down until the three of them curled together with their faces on the ground. Soon, a blast was heard from the bedroom. Soil scattered everywhere, almost burying the three of them and the next thing Jared knew was being helped off the ground by Elder Pellegrino and his aunt.

Jared’s ears were still ringing, and he could barely hear his aunt’s words, but he nodded his head anyway, saying that he was okay. The partition between the bedroom and the living room was gone and from where he stood he could see someone, completely naked, crouching down in the middle of the room.

“Jensen,” Jared breathed. A couple of seconds later, the figure screamed. “Jensen!” He ran towards Jensen, ignoring his aunt’s warning to crouch down in front of the Sama with both hands on the ground. “Jensen, are you okay?” But his friend just screamed louder with his face contorted in extreme agony that made Jared’s heart ache. Amidst Jensen’s painful scream, Jared heard his aunt gasped.

“Oh, my god! Look at his back!”

Jared tore his eyes from Jensen’s face to look at his friend’s back where the two holes that used to house his wings started to fill and grow. The flesh and bone grew rapidly in front of his eyes until the tips touched the ceiling and bent backwards. Then, feathers grew just as fast, covering the bones until they formed the shape of the wings Jared had seen the first time he met Jensen. Eventually, Jensen’s screaming stopped and he slowly stood, flexing his wings all the while.

When Jensen was wounded and sick, Jared hadn’t even thought of it, but now, seeing his friend naked in front of him, with perfect skin and wings spread magnificently on his back, there was only one word Jared could think of to describe Jensen.

Glorious.

Jensen was glorious.

“Jensen? You remember me?” asked Jared tentatively. From what he read in the journal, Awi-Jna had difficulty remembering her life before her apparent death and her lover had to help her remember them.

Jensen frowned, eyes roaming Jared’s face. “I ... Ja?”

“Yes, Jensen! It’s me Jared,” said Jared with a wide smile. He felt happy that Jensen seemed to remember him after all but then Jensen’s frown deepened.

“I need ....sunlight,” Jensen gasped, bending down and holding his stomach.

“Jared, hurry, we have to bring him outside,” said Elder Pellegrino who was suddenly at Jensen’s side, helping the Sama out of the hole while Jared looked on, rooted on his spot.

The Elder’s command jolted him from his stupor and he hurriedly came to his aid, slinging Jensen’s right arm around his shoulder and helped him walked out of the compound.

There were lots of people gathered in front of the compound, probably because of the explosion in the compound. Jared saw Elder Sheppard stood in front of them with his trademark eastern tribe accent trying to calm the people. The murmurs became louder when they saw Jensen and Jared could see fear in all their faces.

“Everything’s under control. No need to worry, people. As you can see, Elder Pellegrino is escorting the intruder out of our home. He will make sure that it can’t return,” said Elder Sheppard in his best negotiating voice. Yet, the people still weren’t convinced as shouts and accusations were thrown around.

“Come on, Jared. We have to hurry,” Elder Pellegrino whispered, and Jared followed his lead.

“Alright, people, get out of the way! Move!” shouted Alaina, making way for Jared and Elder Pellegrino. People were confused and upset because their peaceful life was disturbed but Alaina was still a respected Elder and they grudgingly obeyed her command.

With the help of his aunt and Elder Sheppard who held the people at bay, they managed to escort Jensen out of the compounds until they reached the stairs that led to the cave outside. In the round hall, Elder Pellegrino reached for a secret lever under the stairs and a wheeled steel crate emerged on a rail from a hidden nook in front of the stairs.

Alaina hooked the crate into the rail track near the wall that ran alongside the stairs before hopping in and ushering the three of them to do the same. Jared was flabbergasted. He knew there was a strange steel rail on the stairs but never knew what it was for.

“Surprised, aren’t you?” asked Elder Pellegrino with a cheeky grin once the crate moved and they were riding up the stairs.

Jared looked between the smug smile on his aunt’s face to the playful smirk on Elder Pellegrino’s face, feeling cheated. “How come you never told me, aunt Al? After all the running up and down that I did. If only I knew that there was such a machine...” Jared shook his head disbelievingly.

“Nah, won’t make it easy for you, J,” said his aunt dismissingly. “Besides, I was hoping if you know how difficult and tiring it was to go outside, you’d get tired and stop doing it. Apparently, I was wrong,” she continued with a sad smile on her face while looking at Jensen who slumped half-awake between Jared and Elder Pellegrino, his head resting on Jared’s shoulder.

“Wait, Alaina, is that my pants?” asked Elder Pellegrino out of the blue, pointing his finger at Alaina’s hand. Jared’s attention had been focused on helping Jensen out of the compound that he’d ignored everything else. Now that Elder Pellegrino had said it, he noticed that she did have something in her hand.

“It was lying around your livingroom, so I took it. As georgeous as he is, we wouldn’t want him running around naked, would we?” said Alaina before adding hesitatingly, “or does he usually?”

“No, no, Jensen was wearing clothes the first time I found him,” Jared quickly answered.

“Oh, good.”

The journey it took to travel up using the crate was significantly shorter than what Jared was used to. Jared smiled thinking about the many buckets of water he could transport in one journey up to his garden. It would definitely save a lot of time and make his life easier. He vowed to make use of the machine every time he went outside. Now that Jensen had awoken, Jared imagined he would go out more often than before and he wouldn’t be lonely anymore.

Thankfully, it was morning outside and not raining. So, they quickly brought Jensen out to the place where he could get the most sunlight; the place where Jared used to bring Jensen to.

As Jensen kneeled on the ground with wings spread out, Jared realized that his wings were a different color than before. Despite the burns and wounds, he remembered that the wings had been white, but now they were grey, with gold and white specks on the inner feathers. They weren’t less magnificent than before, though. Perhaps they were even more glorious because now Jared could see them in full form. The sunlight made the gold flecks flicker and the white feathers shine brightly. Then Jensen rose, flapping his wings a couple of times sending leaves and gravel flying that Jared had to cover his face with his arms.

“Alright, hot shot, when you’ve finished ruffling your wings and stroking your ego would you mind putting some pants on?” Alaina stepped forward waving the pants towards Jensen.

Jared couldn’t help but smile when Jensen visibly blushed. With his hair sticking up everywhere, he was so cute when he blushed.

“I’m sorry, my lady, for my indecency,” Jensen mumbled as he took the pants from the female Elder and quickly put them on. It was a bit snug, but Jared appreciated it even more since it looked so good on Jensen. Jensen cleared his throat. “Ehmm... thank you so much for your help, my Lord and Lady-”

“Hold on!” Elder Pellegrino raised his hand. “Me and Alaina, we’re Elders of the Ardsikhri underground community. You can call us Elder but there’s no Lord and Lady here.”

Jensen looked surprised, “Oh, then, please accept my apology, Elders. I’m not used to your customs. Jared had told me a lot of things but I’m afraid I was not in my right mind at the time.”

“I’m sure he did. Never can keep his mouth shut, my nephew,” Jared’s aunt teased, to which Jared give a very mature reply of sticking out his tongue.

Jensen grinned at Jared’s antics. “Still, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you all and I can only offer you my friendship, although I know it’s not enough.”

“We hope that you can end this ‘discomfort’,” said Elder Pellegrino gesturing to the woods around them. Referring to the centuries old dispute that resulted in the destruction of their civilization as a mere discomfort was the understatement of the century, but Jensen seemed to get what he meant.  

“It won’t be easy. A lot of people back home still think of you as savage and cruel beings bent on destruction,” said Jensen.

“Some of us did a long time ago,” Elder Pellegrino admitted, “but I think we’re way past that.”

Jensen nodded. “I will try my best.” Then, he turned to Jared. “Jared, I ... I can’t thank you enough,” said Jensen as he walked towards Jared and touched his right palm on Jared’s cheek. Jared’s eyes widened, surprise by the intimate gesture. “You’ve done so much for me. I wish to repay your kindness.” He smiled and nodded his head as if deciding on something. “This is the best I can give you. In Sama’ard, we hold our oath very seriously.”

Jensen put both palms on Jared’s cheeks and pressed his forehead onto Jared’s forehead before speaking in clear, reverberating words, “I, Jensen Ackles, descendant of the Carens swear by my own life that I will fulfil Jared ... umm, what your last name?”

Jared, who barely registered what Jensen was saying because of the sudden chill that he felt as goose bumps raised all over his skin whispered, “Padalecki.”

“I will fulfil Jared Padalecki’s one wish or the sun will burn my soul.”

Right after Jensen finished his oath, lights emanated from his body to engulf both of them. Jensen drew Jared closer, wrapping his arms around Jared’s body and pressed a kiss on his lips.

Jared gasped in surprise, eyes widened. Jensen let him go as the light receded back into his body and smiled shyly, rubbing the back of his neck and peeking at Jared through his lashes.

“Sorry, the oath has to be sealed with a kiss,” said Jensen, shrugging ruefully but Jared doubted if he really sorry because the next moment he winked and grinned cheekily at him before flapping his wings. “See you around, Jared!”

A few flaps of his massive wings and Jensen was airborne. Seeing Jensen take to the sky and be in his element made Jared remember something. “You’re coming back, right, Jensen?!” Jared shouted after the flying creature but Jensen already flown away, and Jared stared at the sky forlornly. He felt his aunt’s hand on his shoulder comforting him but the hurt in his heart was piercing.

“Don’t worry, kid. He did promise you, didn’t he?” said Elder Pellegrino.

Jared regretted not asking Jensen to promise to return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this story can end here because it lines up with the art of inspiration by thruterryseyes and this is all that I have submitted to the 2017 SPNReverse_Bang challenge. 
> 
> Yet, Jensen's story just begged to be written. I won't give any promise on regular update but in my mind the story is much longer. So, maybe ... there'll be next chapter. Not soon, though.


End file.
